6,400 people in the dark after crash cuts power along U.S. 85

A crash east of Lucerne left a large swath of Weld County without power Monday night.

The crash, which happened shortly after 8:30 p.m. near Weld County roads 74 and 39, caused a section of Weld along U.S. 85 from north Greeley to Ault and east through Galeton to lose power, said Mark Stutz, spokesman for Xcel Energy. In all, the power outage left 6,445 people in the dark, Stutz said.

The crash involved one vehicle, according to a Colorado State Patrol dispatcher. One person was taken to North Colorado Medical Center, 1801 16th St. in Greeley, by ambulance after the crash. Trooper Ryan Sullivan of the state patrol said the person’s injuries were minor and that the crash was still under investigation Monday night.

While thousands were left in the dark Monday night, many reported seeing strange, blue flashes emanating from near where the crash took place.

Tommy Soto was walking with his wife, Shirley, near their house between Pierce and Nunn when he saw three distinct flashes of blue lights that looked like explosions, albeit without any sound.

“Like when you go see the fireworks and you see those the big boomers, the ones that make cannon shot sounds … that’s what it looked like,” Soto said.

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It was then, he said, that he saw the towns to the south of him, such as Pierce, go dark.

“It’s like going back a hundred years,” Soto said.

Stutz said power began to be re-routed back to the majority of the homes that were affected at 10:29 p.m.